Robertson, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,628,382 and 6,809,826, teaches containment of small droplets by surface tension. These patents are incorporated in their entirety by reference. In addition the method and apparatus disclosed may be applied to fluorometry with apparatus and method as taught in Robertson et al.'s application PCT/US 2006/04406 with inclusion of the special optical requirements in fluorometry to keep the signal from being overwhelmed by incident light. The disclosure of that application is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
In making these measurements, the need for high productivity in the work of the laboratory involved is plain. Instrumentation and method that permit simultaneous, or near simultaneous, operation on multiple samples is most desirable. It is to this end that this invention is directed.